


In the Aftermath

by HicSuntDracones



Series: 15x20 Whomst? [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Meta, Moving On, Not a coda, Other, Post-Episode s15e20: Carry On, Post-Finale, Post-Season/Series 15, Recovery, fuck 15x20, this is not a fix it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:28:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28595490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HicSuntDracones/pseuds/HicSuntDracones
Summary: There is an after of every story. There is the space behind the curtains, there is the time after the credits start rolling, there is the silence after the final words.This is the aftermath.
Series: 15x20 Whomst? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021278
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	In the Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> This is...an idea I had. I've been practicing just barfing my ideas out and actually writing, here is a kind of result? It's something I envisioned as all the characters being there in the space after the story, being themselves outside of the roles they were forced to play.

Fade out. Roll credits. The screen goes black, the story ends. In the darkness left behind, the remains of the characters piece themselves back together to say-

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?” At least a dozen people say it the first time, all at once in a way that couldn’t have been planned and speaks to widespread and enduring frustration. 

“I told you! I told you! Nothing ends well when they forget about the psychic, the fools were doomed since the beginning!”

“We know Missouri, you’ve been saying it for fifteen goddamn years!” 

“Don’t you speak to me like that young man, I didn’t see you make it much farther than I did!” 

Missouri and Ash are arguing again. They always end up arguing in the spaces before and after, no one knows why. Pamela says it’s because Missouri has faith and Ash has his computer-fueled paranoia, and those don’t mix well. Bela says it’s ‘cause Ash is an asshole. Most people don’t care, because they’ve come to accept this as part of the cycle. 

Missouri and Ash argue, the story starts, everyone plays their parts, most of them die, the story closes out, Missouri and Ash argue again. No one wants to deal with their shit today though, shell-shocked as they are. This group-several dozen moderately insane and traumatized people-has been through an infinity of stories together. The story that just ended was particularly...gruesome, however. Even more so than usual. Hence the assorted ‘what the fuck-’ing, Victor drinking in the corner(if there really can be a corner in something that most closely resembles a void), and Dean crying. 

Kevin tells him to shut up, ‘cause he has a headache from watching the end of that. Amara hands him a Tylenol thing she’s conjured up from nowhere, which is rapidly emptied by everyone else. Sam takes about five, muttering about “Fifteen years. Fifteen years!” Naomi takes two straight from his hand without apologizing; he doesn’t even realize. Charlie calls everyone a bitch in a mean way, Jo tries to stab Lucifer, and there’s a bit more shouting before they finally coalesce into something that resembles order.

Billie’s in charge, because, well...Billie’s in charge. That’s how it is. She goes through roll call, most of those who died early on bitching extensively until Ellen yells at them to shut up. Everyone is in a bad mood. 

“It’s good to see all of you again, but let’s get to business. I know this last...adventure did not go the way most of us wanted.”

“With all due respect, ma’am, it fucked us all sideways.” There’s a general murmur of agreement with Bobby’s statement. Dean is still crying, but muffled now, face shoved into Cas’ shirt. It’s the only sound as everyone waits for Billie to continue talking. 

“We’ve established that recent events were unsatisfactory. No one needs to say it again. Does anyone have anything they want to air out before we settle in?” This too is part of the endless pattern. While they’re in the story, they are rarely in control of their own actions. They all know this. Harsh words and treachery and deaths are not intended, but neither are they avoidable. It hurts every time. So they give each other a little space to air their dirty laundry, to apologize for the things they did even when they didn’t mean to.

Everyone stays quiet this time. Billie gives it another minute before asking, “There’s nothing? Really? No one has anything they want to bring up after that shitshow?” 

“Oooooooo, Billie said shit!” Jack-now a proper four year old again-giggles. Kelly laughs with him and a few others join in. Billie takes great pride in not letting anything faze her. Her swearing is a mark of how awful that last story had been. 

Mary stands. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m just tired. Really, really, tired. Can we leave this one in the past?”

“I’ll second that!” Jess shouts. “I was here first and I missed everyone. Let it rest.”

“Yeah, no more talking about it.” Rufus adds, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand.

“Allright, all in favor of leaving that behind us? No bringing up past injustices except as memories that should never be repeated, because we’ve hurt each other enough already. Moving forward we’re going to be better.” 

“Until the next time we’re shoved into an absolutely horrendous story where I don’t even get to kiss any women.” Rowena is obviously still a bit bitter about that. 

Billie takes a deep breath. “We can’t control what happens to us, Ro. All we can do is control what we do in the aftermath. What we do here.” She gestures to the strange void they’ve spent half their existence in. Who knows how long they’ve been around, endlessly dying and scheming and dreaming and falling in love inside and outside the stories. None of them really remember the beginning of it all, and there’s no end in sight. So Billie asks, “All in favor of moving forward?”

It’s practically unanimous. Abbadon, Lucifer, and Ash abstain just to be difficult. “That settles it then. No new business. No old. Meeting adjourned everyone. Let’s get settled in. Who has the whiskey?” Alex raises the bottle high, and everyone clamors for a drink.

Everyone eventually separates into their own spaces, making up for lost time with everyone they’ve missed. Sometimes there’s just too much to air out, and you can’t go back to where you started. Sometimes you just have to keep going, knowing that what’s behind you is awful and hoping that what’s in front of you will be better. That’s what they’re going to do here, as they wait to be called back into a story again. 

I hope the next one is kinder to them. I hope it’s kinder to all of us. 

**Author's Note:**

> Does it make sense? I hope it does. Supernatural brainrot is giving me many ideas. Also fuck the finale, as always.


End file.
